A child who looks like me

Jiheon opened up to Jeongoo about his past.

A story from long ago, back when Jiheon was just a vague memory of his time in the Go genius class.

“It’s an embarrassing story, but my mother was like that. She would casually interfere and impose restrictions while throwing in the words ‘I love you.’”

“I love you, my son. I’m doing all this because I love you.”

With a mother who continuously used the phrase “I love you” as a means of manipulation, his own love had inevitably become twisted. Those words felt like pressure, heavy and sometimes insincere, rendering them insignificant.

He regretted not being able to say those words to Lee Jeongoo, especially since the shape of love he knew had likely changed after meeting her seven years ago.

His love had truly begun to blossom, but after the accident, everything was lost.

Now, he vowed he would never lose it again.

“So, saying this feels really cheesy,” he admitted.

“…….”

“Still, I love you.”

He thought he needed to say it more often.

After seven years, Jeongoo finally wiped her tears and embraced Jiheon.

The realization that something was wrong with Guk-soon came about while wrapping up work. After receiving a call from Guk-soon, Jeongoo hurried home with Jiheon and searched video sites until they found the problematic footage.

The segment about Guk-soon Baekban was brief. At the end of a BJ’s restaurant exploration video, Guk-soon’s restaurant appeared. The BJ ordered three servings of baekban, and when they scooped up a spoonful of the stew, a piece of garbage surfaced.

It was half of a coffee mix packet. The video ended with two companions silently aghast at the discovery.

Upon seeing the video, Guk-soon’s face turned pale.

“I never drank that coffee….”

Jeongoo immediately recognized the person in the video. Although it was pixelated, the acquaintance sitting opposite the BJ was undoubtedly Chae Eun-bi.

The day Chae Eun-bi came to Guk-soon Baekban, ordered three servings of baekban, and left without taking a single bite was also the day she had handed Yeona 50,000 won.

After watching the video, Jeongoo let out a heavy sigh.

“So this is what happened.”

“Do you know the whole story?” Jiheon asked.

“We’re not that careless. It’s all recorded on our restaurant’s CCTV.”

Jeongoo pulled up the separately saved CCTV footage to show Jiheon and Guk-soon.

On the day Eun-bi visited Guk-soon Baekban, Jeongoo had been cleaning the restaurant alone and reviewed the CCTV footage. After the food came out, the three of them looked around and pulled something out of their bags to stir into the stew.

He was curious about what they were doing, and it turned out they had thrown trash into the pot.

Jiheon was baffled.

“Didn’t they realize there were cameras? There’s a sign indicating the CCTV installation, right? Why would they do that?”

“Look at how the three of them are acting. They only noticed one camera.”

Jeongoo pointed to another camera revealed in the footage. Indeed, the three were glancing furtively toward the other camera while completely blocking the view of the one they didn’t notice.

They must have thought it was enough to be careful of just one camera, which ironically made their actions more clearly captured on the opposite camera.

“It’s best to handle this quickly,” Jiheon suggested.

Following Jiheon’s advice, Jeongoo swiftly created an account on the video site. The BJ’s video had already surpassed 150,000 views, with around 100,000 subscribers.

If they didn’t take action soon, the number of viewers who had seen the misleading video would only increase.

Jeongoo contacted Deputy Park Young-gwang. She asked him to help when he came to work the next morning. After hearing the situation, Young-gwang rushed to the company, where he had been having drinks with Gi-hoon nearby. Jiheon also decided to return to the company.

Jiheon and Young-gwang edited the CCTV footage to compare it with the problematic video, while Jeongoo drafted a statement. Jiheon added a line about taking legal action to the statement.

While they were editing, the number of viewers for the problematic video continued to rise. Moreover, other creators who had seen the video began creating secondary content about it.

Eventually, aggressive subscribers found Guk-soon Baekban’s name and posted its address in the comments.

“Mom, don’t worry. By tomorrow morning, it’ll all be sorted out,” Jeongoo reassured Guk-soon, who was trembling in anxiety. Around midnight, they posted the video and the statement. Jeongoo also left the edited video’s link in the comments of the BJ’s video.

Throughout the night, Jeongoo monitored both the BJ’s channel and her own. About an hour after Jeongoo’s video was posted, the view count began to rise.

It seemed the BJ had realized the existence of the CCTV footage, as they deleted Jeongoo’s comment on their channel. However, another subscriber reposted Jeongoo’s channel address, and her video slowly began to spread.

A few hours later, reactions began to pour in on the BJ’s channel. Harsh comments targeting the BJ followed in droves.

– The restaurant owner has posted the CCTV footage. But it’s quite different from the video here. Please reveal the truth.

– This is manipulated. Everyone, please check the CCTV footage first.

– Looks like they edited the video to stir up drama. Insane. Just insane.

– Who is this fraud? If it weren’t for the CCTV, a perfectly good restaurant would have been ruined.

Eventually, the BJ faced strong criticism from subscribers and deleted the problematic video. It took just four hours after Jeongoo posted the CCTV footage to resolve the situation.

Finally, a peaceful morning arrived.

Jungoo’s body felt sluggish from not getting enough sleep.

While he was lazily leaning back in his chair and dozing off, Gi-hoon, who had come to work, spoke to him.

“Deputy.”

“Ah, Gi-hoon.”

“Are you okay?”

After looking so despondent yesterday, Gi-hoon showed up today with a bright face, even asking about Jungoo’s well-being. It seemed he had overcome everything overnight, which was somewhat reassuring.

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

“I checked that video too. When I tried to look it up again this morning, it was gone. That crazy guy must have cleaned it up himself, right?”

“Yeah, the video has been taken down, but there are now secondary edits popping up, and I’m reaching out to each one. Some people are taking down their posts and issuing apologies, but the most common ones are those who are editing and posting our CCTV footage.”

“This is going to blow up.”

“I’m okay, but I’m worried about my mom.”

At Jungoo’s response, Gi-hoon sighed as if it were his own problem. Jungoo cautiously asked, “Are you feeling alright, Gi-hoon?”

“Oh, I’m fine.”

Gi-hoon looked somewhat awkward at Jungoo’s question.

“Your story is really something that could become an international topic.”

“I’m sorry for not mentioning it sooner, Gi-hoon.”

“No, it’s okay. I was so shocked that I was just blank, but I’m alright now.”

“…….”

“Actually, I came back to the office last night. I watched the deputy and the director editing that CCTV footage, and I was overwhelmed by the director’s gaze.”

The gaze of someone deeply in love, someone no one could stop. The moment Gi-hoon confirmed that, he realized something.

“I think the director is a good person.”

He understood he could never compete with Jeong Jiheon.

A day passed relatively uneventfully. Jungoo worked late as usual and left the office around 9 PM. He felt anxious since Yeona had mentioned that her grandmother was at the restaurant again today.

That night, when Yeona had gone to bed early, Jungoo entered Guk-soon’s room and spoke to her.

“Why don’t you take a break today?”

“I didn’t work today. I just went to tidy up.”

“…….”

“I’ve put the place up for sale.”

Jungoo’s heart sank at Guk-soon’s response.

“……Why?”

“Why? Because I think it’s time to do so.”

The thought that his mother had to sacrifice herself again because of him, and again because of Chae Eun-bi, brought tears to his eyes. He held back his tears and tried to persuade Guk-soon.

“Is it because of that video? Mom, that’s all been sorted out. It’ll be okay.”

But Guk-soon smiled as if that wasn’t the problem.

“Do you like it better when I keep working?”

“…….”

“If that’s what you want, then I’ll keep doing it.”

Jungoo couldn’t respond to his mother’s question. It felt as if someone had struck him on the head.

For some time, he thought his mother worked because she enjoyed it. She had always taught him to pursue what he loved and what he wanted to do. He had assumed she felt the same way simply because he loved working. It was a narrow-minded perspective.

Jungoo protested.

“Why are you asking for my opinion? What matters is what you want.”

“Your opinion is always the most important to me.”

“…….”

“I started working to raise you and to raise Yeona when I came back to Seoul. But now that I’ve met Yeona’s father, it’s time for me to step back.”

A lot had happened in just a few days. Finding the child’s father, discussions of marriage with the son of a chaebol, her granddaughter collapsing, and now he was being inexplicably slandered.

After experiencing so many events, Guk-soon began to consider what she could do. She realized that insisting on continuing the restaurant business wasn’t the answer. She needed to protect her daughter in a different way.

She couldn’t let her daughter suffer because of the gossip surrounding their restaurant on the market’s edge.

“I wanted to get a chef’s license when I was young, but I never had the time. It used to be that being good at cooking didn’t mean much, but these days, there are jobs like culinary researchers, cooking BJs, and so on. Seeing people my age on TV cooking beautifully and impressing others makes me really envious and excited.”

“…….”

“I don’t know how long I can start from now, but I just want my daughter to support me. That’s what I need the most.”